While J. J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a departure from Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, Abrams has nothing but nice things to say about his predecessor.
At a recent press screening of The Rise of Skywalker attended by Vanity Fair, J. J. Abrams was present and answered questions at a panel held after the movie. There are a few things in The Rise of Skywalker that are perceived as being slights against director Rian Johnson’s take on Star Wars, but J. J. Abrams has stated that these are not intentional and that the relationship that both directors had was collaborative in nature.
Here’s what J. J. Abrams had to say about building off of Rian Johnson’s work:
“We had conversations with [Rian Johnson] at the beginning. It’s been nothing but collaborative. The perspective that, at least personally, I got from stepping away from it and seeing what [Rian Johnson] did, strangely gave us opportunities that would never have been there, because of course he made choices no one else would have made. In a way, it felt kind of like a gift, though of course there were challenges in every direction. It was actually weirdly more helpful than not, having that other energy to the story. There was an alchemy because of the things that he did.”
J. J. Abrams has indicated that The Rise of Skywalker is his swan song for Star Wars, especially with his Bad Robot megadeal landing with WarnerMedia. Rian Johnson is still expected to develop a new trilogy of new Star Wars films at some point down the road.
Directed by J. J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams. Carrie Fisher also appears as General Leia Organa through the use of previously unreleased footage shot for previous Star Wars films.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now playing in theaters.
Source: Vanity Fair
